Are Your Metrics Killing You?

I hope you’re measuring what matters. If you measure intellect by one’s success in school, Richard Branson is a certified idiot. If you measure pitchers by how often they walk a batter, Hall of Fame player, Nolan Ryan, might be the worst pitcher in history. The quote that’s often misattributed to Einstein also comes to mind that says, “Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it’s stupid.” 

What you measure matters. 

Once communities like our education system, Major League Baseball, and others decide to measure some things and not others, you’ll notice a shift in focus of those participating. The moment you say SAT scores matter, educators will start solving for higher test scores. Meanwhile, the spirit of SAT testing in the first place is to check for the presence of a quality education, right? In turn, however, educators start primarily focusing on their students getting SAT scores rather than primarily on educating them.

I think we can agree that the best education isn’t earned through gaming the SAT. And, Nolan Ryan wouldn’t have been dominate if he was focused on not walking batters. 

Measurement is often tethered to reward structures; behaviors. 

In our non-profit, DEUCE Community Inc., I’m confident that we would not have had transformational stories in the lives of program participants if we were mimicking the status quo metrics in our industry. After all, isn’t there considerable ego in deciding what happiness means for someone else? 

Scan your environment. What metrics are measured? Are they positively or negatively affecting incentives and behaviors?